New Study Shows: Food Fraud Soared 60% Last Year

So what is food fraud anyway? Well, it’s sort of what you would expect. It’s when companies label food one way, but the truth turns out to be completely different. I have been predicting an escalation in this trend for years, since it was obvious that as inflation led to increases in food prices, companies would resort to this type of behavior to keep margins inflated.

So in their latest study, the non-profit food fraud detectives at the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) show us the extent of this extremely dangerous trend. From ABC News:

It’s what we expect as shoppers—what’s in the food will be displayed on the label.

But a new scientific examination by the non-profit food fraud detectives the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP), discovered rising numbers of fake ingredients in products from olive oil to spices to fruit juice.

In a new database to be released Wednesday, and obtained exclusively by ABC News today, USP warns consumers, the FDA and manufacturers that the amount of food fraud they found is up by 60 percent this year.

So what are the most commonly faked products?

Among the most popular targets for unscrupulous food suppliers? Pomegranate juice, which is often diluted with grape or pear juice.

How about that lemon juice?

“One had 10 percent lemon juice, it said it had 100 percent, another had 15 percent lemon juice, another…had 25 percent, and the last one had 35 percent lemon juice,” Sally Greenberg, Executive Director for the National Consumers League said. “And they were all labeled 100 percent lemon juice.”

I mean how do you confuse 10% lemon juice with 100%? I suppose in the age of Jon Corzine and all the crooks in banking getting off without a scratch from the biggest heist in American history, this sort of stuff should be expected. This is just another example of stealth inflation manifesting in our daily lives, but food fraud presents a much larger health hazard than merely shrinking portion sizes.